Coast restaurant group will open a new location at The Promenade and a new pizza place

One of the owners of Empanola restaurants has South American roots and the other’s heritage is Italian, and now they will share the taste of both nationalities with South Mississippi.

The first Empanola restaurant on the Coast opened in January 2023 and blends the flavors of New Orleans and South America in a baked empanada sandwich. The owners then expanded, opening two more Empanolas at Howard Avenue in Biloxi and on U.S. 90 in Ocean Springs.

Now the original location at the corner of Pass and Popp’s Ferry roads just closed and a new location is coming to a larger, more accessible spot.

“We will be opening in The Promenade in mid-October,” said Timothy Lombardi-Benson. It will be near Five Guys in the D’Iberville shopping center, where Smallcakes: A Cupcakery and Creamery continues to operate through September.

When an opportunity came to buy a pizza restaurant on Porter Avenue in Biloxi, his original response was to pass on another business, Lombardi-Benson said. Husband Frank Lombardi-Benson, decided he wanted to carry on his family’s history in Pisa, Italy, and three days after considering it, they closed the deal and now own the pizza business.

They’ve rebranded the shop as Pisano’s and are working to open this Labor Day Weekend, Timothy said.

The pizza parlor is next to Jazzeppi’s Italian restaurant, where Howard Avenue meets Porter Avenue, just up from the Biloxi Lighthouse.

They plan to keep the pizza recipe as near as possible to the original, Timothy said, since people line up for it.

Six or eight standard pizzas will be on the menu, he said, in pies and slices, along with two or three salads and some desserts.

And for those hungry for both Latin American and Italian food, the Empanola Biloxi is just down the street.